I read your G7 review and thought it could be the camera I'm looking for. I want a top-of-the-range compact, but I don´t mind if you don´t have RAW or a flip screen; I appreciate IS, Face-detect, but what I really care for is image quality "out of the box".
So, the only thing I'm concerned about the G7 is its noise: is it really that bad above 200 ISO? I don´t think I´ll be printing large pictures (nothing larger than Letter size), although I often make some night shots, so I would like to know if even under these conditions I will notice any noise on my pictures.
Thanks in advance!

The G7 can produce great quality out of the box, but like all non-DSLRs these days, suffers from noise at higher sensitivities. Whether this is acceptable to you is entirely personal. Did you have a look at our outdoor noise page here:

I had a look at those pictures, and noise at 400 ISO looks fine to me. Based on your shots, I think that only at 800 you can begin to worry about it, and from there to 1600 there is a big difference already (I don´t ever consider to use 3200).
But as you said before, if someone who already owns a G7 can reply with his opinion on the matter based on his personal experience, that would help me a lot on my decision.

Hi, The G7 IMO is currently the best digicam on the market as far as features and image and also build quality.

I don't care for high ISO on a digicam, since none except for Fujifilm can deliver, but then I don't like the image quality of Fujis. I see noise even at ISO 100 on todays digicams. but that's normal. However some put out more noise than others, Canon's noise is manageable. Lastly on any digicam I don't shoot above 200.

You can't go wrong with the G7. At ISO100 the image quality matches that of a consumer DSLR with a kit lens and that says a lot.

Thanks Shiva! I agree with you that in most cases you can avoid shooting above ISO 200 or 400. And this becomes more evident if you have a good IS system like the one on the G7 that keeps you out from the weak spot of all compact cameras: high ISO.

I will be considering your thoughts, but my decision is clearly heading towards the G7 so far since it fulfills my expectations for a compact: 6X zoom, IS, Face-detection, and excellent image quality (similar to a DSLR) at normal conditions.

I really appreciate your opinions, and I'll let you know what I did and my first impressions as soon as I get my new camera. Thank you very much!

The S5 is a wonderful camera. I've seen its features-I think there are no reviews available yet- but at first sight looks quite impressive! It is one of the few cameras I had in mind, but so far I just want a more portable camera, less bulkier than the S5. For example, Nikon's D40X would have been another good choice compared to the S5, although as I said before, I'm rather looking for a good compact that you can easily carry from one place to another.

But who knows, with a compact already in my hands, maybe in the near future I'll be looking for a more powerful camera like the S5.
Thanks for your advice!

- no problem!
I had my eyes on both the S5, G7 and the Panasonic DMC-LX2 the last couple of weeks, but I finally decided to step up to the D80 - which I got yesterday! Simply a fantastic camera and I'm able to use all my old Nikkor lenses in manual mode! My 50mm f:1.4 is simply beautiful with it's soft focus!
On the other side - I'm not travelling light anymore ... you can't always have the best of both worlds!

Totally agree with you. The D80 is a fantastic DSLR camera, and I know that because a friend of mine got one recently, and I fell in love with that camera as soon as I had it in my hands and began to test it. The image quality is simply superb, so if you can afford it, I would recommend it without a doubt to anyone who's looking for a semi-pro camera.

So, congratulations on your new buy! I'm sure that in the following days you will be amazed as I did by the great pictures you can take with that little jewel.
Regards!